The Demigods of Our Century: The Chosen
by theoneirataxic
Summary: After Blood of Olympus, five demigods rise from the corners of the world. It has come to the time to question loyalties. To be protected or to be sacrificed? With Fate crumbling, vengeful curses turning and balances uneven, there can only be one hero. But there is only so much a god can hide from mortals... Lots of OCs
1. The Revelation

_**A/N HI! New story up! **_

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**Me: *grabs PJO characters* Mine!**_

_**Rick: ...**_

_**Me: ...**_

_**Rick: ...**_

_**Me: *hands them over reluctantly* Fine! They're yours. Play nice! *watches carefully***_

* * *

><p>Camp Log<p>

_Everything was fine since the Winter Solstice. But there's something wrong. There's always something wrong. _

23rd of May - attack on CHB. 25th of May - Campers fall ill, especially children of Demeter. Another attack.

26th May - Camp Jupiter visits have stopped.

27th May - all demigods are now required to stay at camp for the summer session until next winter.

30th May - Children of the Big Three can no longer participate in normal scheduled activities.

I _will not be leaving for Camp Jupiter._

Written by Annabeth Chase.

***[]***

I wish I noticed it sooner.

The sky was a murky grey, the kind I would say would be Zeus's shaken-up smoothie spilled all over the hemisphere. Well, that's what my girlfriend said it was.

I sat on my front porch, the rain and wind completely hacking at the wooden stilts of my cabin. The ground was still cracked and dishevelled from the rising of the dead. Not far from here, was probably the Long Island Sound bashing itself against rocks and angering every sea monster there ever was.

The world felt a rocking cradle – every time I tried stepping off my porch, I felt so sick that I just retched all my guts out. It was stupid. This was stupid. Just as my quest finished, the second Titan War, another was planned for me. No one's saying it, but I know they expect me to save them this time. Just like Annabeth's quest for the Athena Parthenos, it is my fate. But after this, I'm sure.

It will be the last.

My home, my place of recognition, lay before me in shambles. The magical campfire illuminating the night sky flickered feebly, but occasionally lifted to six feet in the air, before shrinking into brown-mud coloured flames. _The workmanship of Cabin Nine,_ I thought_, a hopeful inspiration_. I felt a twinge of guilt. Some were sitting on their wooden steps, like me, ready to back up the night patrol.

_"You're in no shape to fight, Percy," she said firmly._

_"50 other demigods are suffering," I protested, "and I have to sit here? You need me. The camp needs me."_

_"Stay here. That's all I ask. Then, when it's over, we'll see about getting you out of here."_

As the pine trees around me crackled and hissed away smouldering flames, a loud yell echoed through the camp.

A girl about 13 stormed out of Cabin One. Her face was stony and her fists were clenched, her long blonde hair whipping behind her. "Maya!" Jason yelled. "Maya, don't do this!"

He tripped over the wooden steps and landed flat, face in the mud. I ran to Jason's side. "Who's that?" I ask, trying to concentrate on not to puke, "Is she…?"

"My sister," Jason gasps, wiping mud from his cheeks. "We need to stop her." He grabs my arm and leads me down the gravel path to the other cabins. We pass a temporary medical tent and a demigod with a bandage on his right eye. He stares at me. I turn away, the memory burning in my mind. The girl, Maya, stops at a black, obsidian door. She raps the door so hard that the crows that are resting on the neighbouring pine trees squawk in surprise and fly away. _BANG BANG BANG_ "HEY!" She shouts.

"What in Hades-" Nico exclaims, throwing open his cabin door.

Jason runs up to Maya and tries to pry her away from the cabin. Maya freezes to the floor, her green-blue eyes locked into the necklace of jewels Nico has around his neck. "Maya?" Jason whispers.

The commotion has awoken other campers in the other cabins. They spill out, anxious to have a reason to get out. Lou Ellen, from Hecate sidles up to me and whispers. "What's going on?"

I wave her comment off and look at Maya's frozen face. Her eyes contort with emotion, like swirling storm clouds. Then, as quickly as she froze, she shook off the daze. She gasped for air and her face became pale. She stumbled to the floor, crouching as small as possible, letting a single tear drop fall.

"OK, people, it's way past curfew! You know the rules!" I announce to the crowd gathered around the Hades cabin. I hear groans of resentment. They eventually disappear by group until it's just Jason, Nico, Maya and me. Nico and talks to Jason, not at all miffed by Maya. She turns her face into her knees in shame. Jason nods at me; _we can handle it from here._

An hour later, Rachel turns up at my door.

"It's getting better out there," she reports, "not one monster attacks in ages."

"You do know that it's bad luck to say that right?" I say.

She huffs. "Whatever." Then she bites her lip. "Percy, it's Ella."

"The harpy?"

"Yes, the one who memorized the Sibylline Books. She's just been repeating this verse over and over again. Tyson has tried to make her quote something else, but she just won't stop murmuring it!"

"What is it?"

Rachel drops her voice to a whisper. "Chiron told me specifically not to tell you or the rest of the seven. He doesn't want you to be involved anymore."

"Why?" I whisper.

"Just listen. This is it.

_Cry of the damned will summon a child_

_Born of powers, great but wild_

_One will save those in infinities_

_The balance will be, at last, at ease."_

"It doesn't sound like a prophecy."

"It's not. It's a verse from a poem, can't remember the name but it's a poem about the Greek heroes in general, like a rulebook for them."

"So they've been following that verse all that time? There's never a Greek hero associated damned unless it's to do with-"

"I know, Percy!" She shouts. She looks around and drops her voice to a whisper. "Don't tell anyone." She gets up from the fishing chair she had plonked in and went for the door.

"Percy," she whispers, "one more thing. Chiron said… That it's not referencing to current heroes."

I look at her in confusion.

"Don't you get it? It means that it would be a new camper, undetermined or determined, we're not sure. It's not going to be you."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN Listen to this: Across the Lines by Tracy Chapman**_

_**"Choose your side,**_

_**Run for your life.**_

_**Tonight the riots begin..."**_

_**Hope you like! Review!**_


	2. Shifting

**_A/N So many good reviews and comments guys! Will try to update my chapters every night so I can keep you reading :D_**

**_Special mentions to _**

**_FictionalBuzz – thanks, you're the best fanfic buddy I've ever had_**

**_Hannah – glad you liked it! I hope for the fanfic to appeal to all fanfic readers rather than just PJO and HoO fans_**

**_Kiltcladdedreader – I congratulate you on getting account, you never know, you might find yourself writing very soon…_**

**_This chapter is dedicated to princesslolitaorca654_**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Rick: *hums to self-* who are you? What are you doing in my house?!_**

**_Percabeth: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU THREW US IN TARTARUS!_**

**_Me: I can soooo fix that guys._**

**_Percabeth: *raises eyebrows* _**

**_Me: If you were mine! I can guarantee-_**

**_Rick: You know that's illegal right?_**

**_Me: Fine. Have your characters. Blah blah blah._**

_Discovery_

Epthemia cradles the body in her arms. "We can't just leave her here." She whispers, feathers and blood matted in her golden hair. I stand, wiping the tears from my face.

"No." I reveal the burn mark on my right wrist, a wispy shape, _sigma, _Clara had called it.

"Amynta?"

"We have our fate written for us, Mia."

"It's horrible!" She says. I brush off the feather from her hair.

"Well," I say, trying a light tone to my voice, "maybe you could write a better one for us."

She reluctantly takes my hand. "I suppose Athens would be nice." I smile and I concentrate, keeping the flood of pain to myself. The mark burns harder and I clutch my sister's hand tight.

"Πηγαίνετε , να είναι σε ειρήνη." And the body dissipates into blue wisps.

"Amynta…" Mia tugs my hand and I know the warning. Just past the blue cocoon wisps, the trees were bending in, the Mist enveloping us.

"ανοίγω!" I cry, but the Shifting relents, closing in on us. The ground morphed into earthen lava and the trees – if I concentrated hard enough and gripped Mia's hand – they were turning into masses of stone towers. The Mist crowded every inch of the scenery like a dream, the edges of my sight going fuzzy. I felt Mia's arm go limp.

"No!" I yell. "Mia! We're nearly there! Don't stop!"

"I'm fine, Minty!" She wrenches her arm out of my grasp. "Let's just get out of here!" But even as she said it, I cursed myself. Her breathing was quick and shallow. With power comes flaw – she couldn't withstand the pain for much longer. The sight disappears and I see the forest as it was before, if I had not known that the Shifting occurred, I might as well be truly dead.

"Where is-" She points to my far left and we run towards it, Mia guiding me. The mark burned like fire. The blue wisps returned to my control, elongating into snake-like shapes, twisting around my now clenched hand. Mia pushes me onward.

"Quick!" She yelps. "It's Shifting!"

I take the memory of Epthemia learning to hunt back into my mind. _"Why would you kill a poor defenceless animal?" She asks, tugging on my bow._

_"Do you really think I like killing the animals?" _

_"Well we've been eating live meat for days now, you might be obsessed…" She suggests, and then laughs when she sees my face._

_"Like this," I say and pull back the bow. "When the ground is sloping downwards, aim a little down a bit,"_

_Five metres from a makeshift target, Mia stood with the arrow notched, her arm shaking. She finally let go of the arrow, sending it flying to the edge of the target._

_"I hit it!" She squeals and puts her arms around me in an embrace._

Then the memory changed. _"Get up!" I wail, trying to haul the unconscious body of my sister. "We can't give up now!" I try putting her arm around my shoulder, but then the thought of helplessness weighs me down, and I no longer have my strength to keep going._

_'Your curse will keep you down to the damned, little one.' I sob uncontrollably, shaking my head, trying to force the voice out of my head._

_'And yet you tried so hard,' the voices tries to soothe, but all I know is that I need to keep us alive. 'Not a sliver of help, nor a way to lead you to home. Did you really think you could find somewhere of your kind?'_

_"If it kills me. I'll be going until the end." I snarl - my voice choked with emotion. _

_'What gave you this blasted light of Hope? You still have a chance with me.' I look up at the sky, where the voice seems to echoing from. 'Your lives are undetermined. Take a deal with me. You can go free where every living thing will be not an enemy of yours. Instead, they will turn on those who gave you misery and pain.'_

_"I take my fate. I accept what is planned for me. I take up my duties and to follow those who I am to worship. Never will I listen to those who want to change Fates' rules!" I shout to the blackening sky. "I swear it on the River Styx!" I cover my ears as the deafening BOOM shakes the valley._

"εξυπηρετήσει μου!" I chant and I hold out my arm to Mia. She grabs my wrist and together we plummet through the Shifting.

**_A/N Hey! Review and tell me what you think! Slightly shorter than the last but hey-ho, we all can't be perfect. Please tell me what you read your fanfics on, phone, tablet, laptop etc. etc. Will be a lot of help! _**

**_Listen to this: I Need This by Jessie J_**

**_"Please don't give up on me now,_**

**_I needed this time alone._**

**_To know I could come back home,_**

**_To breathe, breathe, breathe..."_**

**_'Till next time, folks x_**


	3. The Alpha, the Beta, the Omega

**_A/N Heya! According to Kiltcladdedreader I have a reputation to keep up so maybe you could help me by reviewing…? Maybe, ten reviews? Then we'll see about the next chapter… Heh heh heh P.S All the geographical features mentioned are fictional. My apologies to people in Canada and Alaska._**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Me: *singing* I'm a little Cyclops-_**

**_Rick: I made that up._**

**_Me: ?_**

**_Rick: PJ and the Greek Gods…_**

**_Me: Oh. You know, I am just going to go and, cheer myself up with some blue cherry coke._**

**_Rick: That as well. PJ and the Lightning Thief. Also, they don't exist yet._**

**_Me: Oh._**

**_Rick: They're all mine, btw._**

**_Me: … *sighs* another one bites the dust…_**

The Alpha, the Beta, the Omega

_Sleeping light is the first thing to surviving out here. Then awareness is the second. Everything else is a minority. _Chi lectured the wolf pups, striding through the pack to sit at the cliff edge. _One thing is to take precaution of you, and as a leader, the pack. Another is to honour our ancestors before us, who honoured the name of wolves. What we stand on, what we hunt on, what we live on, we protect, because that in itself is an honour from the Wolf Mother. _The two wolf pups stopped pawing at each other and looked at the scenery spread around us.

The Clere was just a dotted green patch, and the River Shalt a comical wavy line, twisting further until it disappeared into the early sunrise. I blinked out the sleep from my eyes and crept out of the shadows to join my pack. They stood uneasily by my side, but I am not here to be approved by them. I follow the Alpha. Chi nods at me in agreement and leads the pack away from Zie Peak. He walks into the pit of offerings and I unhook fur from a bear to rest on the ashes. A curl of flame ignites in my palm and I lead it to the firewood, where it sets the fur in flames. The smoke rises into the sky. I step away and kneel as the wolves howl their allegiance to the Wolf Mother, Lupa. 'But technically they're

Chi turned to me. _The Raza were the wolves of pride, they did not want anyone to dishonour our rulers. The Foa are the wolves of equal balance, what lives they took they repaid with their own. _

"What are we, Alpha?" I ask. "What are we known as?" Chi beckons me to edge of the cliff and signals the others to journey back down south to the Shalt.

_You ask many questions, __τέκνο._

"But what do we know about the Outside, Alpha?" I dare to ask. "Apart from the ancient wolf packs?"

_The Outside is one of death and pain._

I see the shadows reach out to me, almost wanting me to disappear too. I back away from the shadows and the cliff edge. I sense something, a foreboding. It doesn't make me want to hide, though. It was more like a warning of the inevitable. _'It will happen whatever you do. Fate will find a way.'_

"Let us go back to the Jard, I wish to be ridden from my thoughts."

_Tana. _Chi locks his midnight black eyes with me. _You are chosen. Know what is planned for you._

"I am the Omega, Alpha." I grit my teeth. "Yana is the next leader."

_Then what do you want of your destiny? None other than stepping up as Alpha-_

"Chi." I interrupt, calling the Alpha by name. "I do not belong here. Have you even considered that I want to belong in _my _pack? I am human. You are wolf."

_Some are related closer than others. That is why Lupa raised the Roman twins._

"So what?" I say, slightly shocked at the bitterness in my tone. I swallow, carefully wording out what I have to say. "I am different; I do not follow like an Omega should do. I do not conform."

Chi stares at our endless territory. _Know your place, Tana. Know your fate. _

I scowl at Fier's thriving nature. It was big for one pack of twenty wolves. I had asked that once, why we have so much territory. Chi had simply said '_Lupa μας έδωσε αυτή τη γη'._ Why wouldn't Chi give me any straight answers? How can I be aware if I do not know what the Outside is? And the reasons behind the strange changes in me? The dreams? I open up my palm and close it again, not wanting to know what will happen. I feel that burst of foreboding and I feel the sudden urge to disappear in the shadows.

I hear a snarl and the realisation washes over me like the winter winds of the north. I turn to see a white wolf smeared in blood. _'The blood of the Fier.'_ The blood trickles down from the canines of the Alpha and the anger inside me starts to boil. He snarls again, directed towards Chi and he snarls back, his ears up and his fur frizzing slightly.

_Alpha?_ I say, communicating to Chi by conscience. _What has he done? _Behind the white wolf appears the rest of his pack and they surround us, encircling us. Trapping us. Chi refuses to answer me. He crouches low to the ground and yelps a warning. The wolf lunges towards me. A feeling of nausea ripples through me and the wolf pounces onto Chi. I cry out, but Chi looks straight through me, his eyes wild and frightened. I hear my voice and his questioning howl, but he doesn't hear mine. I see the wolf latch his blood-stained teeth onto his neck, before the shadows of the trees around me engulf me completely.

"Let me go!" I shout to the rising blue wisp shape. It forms the shape of Yana and I see her dark crimson eyes once more. She stands and looks at me.

"I don't want to know anything you have to say to me!" I cry.

"But your father sent me to warn you."

"Who cares?" I shout, not even noticing her mention of my parent. "Who cares about my parent when I have one now and he's dying?" I try to waft her ghost away, but my hand disappears right through her.

"You are chosen, Tana, he gives you his blessing. He realises his mistake. Go and fulfil your fate."

"I have heard that many times. And now it does not mean a thing. Why should he care? And why should he plead with me? Mercy does not affect me."

"It wouldn't, child of Hades." She replies calmly. The shadows around me start to lose its inky black colour. I see Chi wrestling with the white Alpha, scars already torn through his grey fur coat. "It has taken time for him to reach you. Now that time is running out. You know where to go. Avenge your father."

I grit my teeth. "Go away!" I yell, "I've had enough!" And with that, Yana's ghost disappears along with the shadows.

Almost in slow-motion, the Alpha rears up, bringing his sharp claws onto Chi's face. _Goodbye, Chi. The 900__th__ clan with serve Lupa now. You will be remembered of your impertinence, your dare to raise a Grecian. _Then a black curl of energy in his eyes erupts from the crown of his head. Ever so slowly, it dances in the wake of daylight before going straight into Chi's grey mane. The white Alpha collapses, dead on the ground, panting its last breath. _Chi? The Alpha, he's dead._

I turn to Chi. Like the white Alpha before, he's in aggression mode, snarling at me and closing me in. The white wolves drag their old master with them, before whimpering and running at the sight of my Alpha turning in on me.

"That thing…" I say, backing up down the sloping side of the mount. "It's controlling you, Chi."

_How foolish it was to believe in such a thing…_

"You're not thinking straight."

_That I could make a human bow to me._

"What? What are you saying?"

_Stupid Grecian. I am the leader of the 600__th__clan! Humans wiped out half our pack. Even though Lupa was in the 600__th__. I wanted humans to beg for mercy!_

"I am a child of Hades, Chi." I spread my arms, gesturing to the world around me. "If this is your true self, so be it. You were my parent, Chi. And I won't let you kill in the name of bloodlust." I draw my silver dagger from my belt. Chi snarls at me and opens his mouth to reveal the black inky substance staining his teeth. Then, for a split second, I see Chi realise the control of his body being taken away from him. He widens his eyes in alarm.

"Mercy. It does not mean a thing to me." And I run my Alpha with the knife.

**_A/N Review please! I actually don't mind criticising comments as long as there's a reason behind it ;) It helps me write better fanfics for the better readers._**

**_Hey look! Another song: She Wolf by David Guetta_**

**_"You loved me and I froze in time,_**

**_Hungry for that flesh of mine_**

**_But I can't compete with the she wolf..."_**

**_theoneirataxic X_**


	4. Painful Memories

**_A/N I am going really soft on you guys. I was gonna hold out on this chapter until I got ten reviews or something, but I couldn't help but post this ASAP. _**

**_I suppose I write for myself as well._**

**_This chapter is dedicated to my best-friend FictionalBuzz, Happy 13_****_th_****_ birthday! You should have seen her card guys. It was blue and it had a blue cupcake and it said:_**

**_Oh! A blue cupcake! (Percy approves) _**

**_And that certain friend of ours isn't even in the PJO fandom! Love you A! x_**

**_~theoneirataxic_**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Me: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson characters or the Heroes of Olympus characters, mythical creatures, fictional places, names or any other mythicalised objects that have been invented by Uncle Rick._**

**_Rick: …_**

**_Me: *sweats nervously* I suppose that covers it, heh heh…_**

**_Rick: … Eh, whatever._**

"Go away!" I chuck the deflated pillow at the door and the peeking eyes disappear through the crack in the door.

_"She's not okay." _I hear Jason whisper.

"I heard that." I snap back, glaring through the door. "I am perfectly _fine _and no, I am _not _crazy and just leave me alone!" I shout indignantly. Pain pricks through my palms and I see red nail marks on my skin. _'Had I been clenching my fists all that time?' _I cover my face in embarrassment and sit against the door. _'Why do I even care about what they think?' _I sob into my jeans. _'Why all of a sudden do I feel the need to be the serious one?'_ I lean against the door and slide to the ground, with my back on the wood. I stomp my foot on the ground, hating Jason, hating this place and most of all, hating that child of Hades. _'What was his name? Oh, it doesn't matter what he's damn called. It's his fault; his fault for my burden and my family's problems. I could so-'_

I clench my fist and throw an imaginary object across the room. Then, the chest of drawers beside me follows the movement, a huge arc, and hurls to the opposite end of the room, slamming into the infirmary bed. It sizzles and causes smoke to rise. I get up in alarm and turn the lock on the door. Chairs scrap the floor and Jason knocks again, more insistent this time.

"Epthumaya?"

"What's going on in there?" I hear a fiercer girl grunt. I press against the door and look at the destroyed infirmary, aghast. _'These people are not your enemy. Let yourself be known and lay friendships with the Heroes of Olympus.' _I bite my lip in anxiety. Actually, I bite it so hard that blood trickles down my chin. The sizzling from the drawers quickly develop into crackles and fizzes. One whiff of the dense smoke in the room and I know that one thing's for sure. _I set the Big House on fire. _I embrace myself for the angry shouts of the half-bloods and turn the lock and push at the handle. I push harder, wondering why on earth it wasn't opening.

"Someone get her out of there!" Another girl shouts.

"It's jammed!" I yell to the others. "There's a fire!"

I step back and try to open the door normally, as I would do if passing one, but the lock clicks insistently, stuck in the door frame. "Jason? Help!" I call out.

"I'm here Maya." I hear Jason's calm instructing voice. "Just hang in there." I turn back to the mahogany chest to see that it was no longer something you would store your clothes in. Instead, it was fuelling this fire that was reaching up to the ceiling and slowly creeping towards me.

"Get the Hephaestus kids!" Yells a girl of nine or ten. A silence settles temporarily over the demigods in the opposite room.

"Uh," I bang my fist against the door. "Guys?" They snap out of the trance.

"We need a plan." Another girl decides.

"Trust you to think of that." A sarcastic voice replies.

"Hey! Shut up-" The girl pauses. "I have an idea!" She runs out of the room and I hear her footsteps get quieter as she vacates the room. The furniture crumbles, causing a dark black cloud to rise from the burning chest of drawers. It reaches into my lungs and chokes me. I stumble to the ground and bend down, coughing on the smoke.

"Maya!" Stand back!" Jason orders. "On three. One, two, three!" I step back and something hard hits the door, perhaps a chair, and the bit around the handle splinters.

"Stand back, rookies!" A boy's voice rings through the crackling flames. The frosted glass window shatters and a crowbar swings to either side of the hole left without the window. He continued to hack at the wood, trying to latch on and pull away the planked walls. "Trust Dionysus to make these walls un-thief-friendly!" Bits of wood and splinters fly from both sides of me and I dart to either side, towards both breaking escape routes.

Then the crowbar boy stops destroying the left wall. The loud thumps of the chair on the other side of the door stop too and all is silent except for the flames, which were now roaring, devouring every object in the room. My vision blurs, stinging from the acrid smoke. I crouch in the corner where the drawers were before and cover myself before the flames devour me, too.

At that moment, a geyser of water erupts from the floor and douses everything, including me and the fire – which was reduced to a damp piece of a rough frame of a dresser. I gasp like a fish out of water and faint. In exhaustion or plain shock, I didn't know. I just felt like disappearing.

I wake up to six, no, three faces leaning over me. I sigh in relief when all of them are girls. I wipe my forehead and try to get up, leaning on my elbows. I tilt my head back to get rid of the neck cramps and see that I'm back in Cabin One.

"Did I really-"

"Yes." A girl with frizzy blonde hair nods slowly. "Half of the Big House is sinking into the mud, not to mention a storm is brewing around there," she whispered to me, "it won't go away," then she holds out her fingers and counts. "Oh and there's the geyser that's just sitting there now." She gestures outside the window. I widen my eyes in alarm. The other girl, sitting beside the frizzy blonde elbows her rather violently.

"Hey. I said you could come, if only, you didn't go all freak."

"All freak?"

"Whatever." The girl replies, flicking her hair out of eyes. She looks at me, analysing what to do to me. Her eyes were rather intimidating, a grey colour, so I just lay there, wondering if I should say hi. Or, if I should jump through the window and escape while I could.

She holds her hand out to me. "Hey, I'm Annabeth." I take it to shake it and instead, she uses it to help me sit up. I fidget in the awkwardness. The third was sitting on the windowsill, rather like owning the place. The frizzy blonde next to Annabeth grinned, twirling her eyes around despite the tension in the room. I can't help but laugh. Annabeth tries a smile, and then turns back to looking out the window, twiddling her beads on her leather necklace. She swallows.

"I know why you're here." I speak in the silence.

"I'm sure you would." Annabeth replies.

I open my mouth to speak, figuring out how to word this correctly. "Something happened." I say slowly, "both times. I'm not being controlled, it's just I can't control… Myself…" I say, noticing how it doesn't make any sense at all.

The girl one the windowsill turns to me, and I know that she's a daughter of Aphrodite. Perfect tanned face? Perfect face symmetry? What kind of demigod would have those kinds of looks? But, like me, the girl finds it hard to word out her sentence. "You can tell us what happened." A wave of self- assurance overcomes me. I twitch, feeling something not normal. _'Trust these demigods.' _I breathe in and close my eyes.

"It doesn't make sense at all." I say and I know I have to say this too. "But there are some things I cannot tell you."

"We're listening." Annabeth says.

_When I was claimed and brought here, to this camp, I didn't know what to think. My mortal parent told me when I was young, perhaps at six months that I was special. I remember that clearly, but everything else seems like, it was taken away from me. After the incident that occurred when I was nine years old, I was raised (since then) with my mortal parent's parents. I was raised like a mortal. _

_Then when I was claimed, at Half-Blood Hill, strange whisperings have been speaking to me. Not bad ones, but things related to people I should trust in this new place._

_I have had history with Hades and that is all I will say. I hate him. And when Jason told me there was a living son of Hades, here at Camp Half-Blood, I needed to… I needed to settle some imbalances. I saw the necklace, the one his sister had given to him. I recognised it. And I went through the phases of my life… Especially the most painful memories. I felt fine to walk and talk. But inside, I felt exhausted. _

_In the infirmary, I just lost it. I just made a movement with my arm and an object – the chest of drawers – just… It's impossible to do anything around here without being reminded, of the things that have happened to me. _

**_A/N I promised to FB that this would be 2000 words, but I'm really sorry, I just couldn't do it. Review and might end up doing so for Chapter 5!_**

**_Song: Picture to Burn by Taylor Swift_**

**_"and if you come around saying sorry to me,_**

**_My daddy's gonna show you how sorry you'll be"_**

**_yes, Maya is a daddy's girl x_**


	5. Black Feathers or Red Blood

**_A/N I actually have a plan for this story guys, so please don't give up on me! Also, any people who know Greek, PM me because I need help on that. Google Translate is risky._**

**_This chapter is dedicated to theonebibiliophobic – she's writing a fanfic! Go check her out!_**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Me: Blood of Olympus… Gods that ending was like, WHAT? _**

**_Rick: …_**

**_Me: Hey, everyone deserves a happy ending but… You didn't leave us with something to think about! If I had it my way… *smiles deviously*_**

**_Rick: In your dreams._**

**_Me: Yes, just in my hopeless dreams…_**

Black Feathers or Red Blood

Chi's soul leaves his body in a melancholy way, taking his last breathe like sigh of disappointment. He looks at me, expecting me to break down and cry. But I don't know how to forgive.

With no emotion in my heart, I skin the fur off Chi. I burn his flesh as an offering to the Wolf Mother. With his fur, I drape it over my shoulders and back, like a cloak. I lay the stones on his ashes in the shape of the 600th clan. I start my way down Zie Peak, not knowing where I should go, or the place I should look for answers. I trudge down the snowy mount, stepping on pebbles, rocks, fallen pines – anything that would help me hide my footprints in the snow. The sky was still a clear blue – not a cloud in sight – so I gave up on depending on the weather to clear my tracks. When I was in the pack, we never gave that a thought. Lots of tracks gave a warning – _we have numbers._

Despite the usual cold breezes expected at this time of the year, the sun and the sky stayed bright and clear – which was news to me. Back on the flat plain, Chi's pack was nowhere in sight, except for the uprooted trees and dishevelled snow. The blood on the white snow seemed so fresh in the midst of a place consisting of not many colours. But I do see a body left in the bushes, Yana's, the Beta. Surely the pack wouldn't leave their second-in-command? I let the question wander in my mind and I pause to look at the body of the blue-wisped ghost. I don't stop to bury it or burn it. Her words were meaningless, though sent by my father. And why would Hades send the ghost of my comrade to me, rather than letting her be free of her body? Yana was brave. She deserved to be free in another life.

I enter a thick forest of pines and I take this as a chance to find out where I am. I scrap my legs on the coarse bark in order to reach the lowest branch. My limbs find it weird to be in this position, scaling up a tree. I risk standing on a very wobbly branch and I peek over the forestry. All of the territory is blanketed in white, except for the banks of the River Shalt, which were pebbles resembling grey dots in the distance. I estimate the time that would be spent journeying there. About three days, I assumed. _Three days. _I scoff. _It's always three days. Why not four? _I go on my tiptoes to try and get a glimpse of the border, but my left foot slips off the branch. My arms flail in panic and I fall, hitting almost every branch on the way down. My reflexes jump in and try to save me from falling, grabbing on the pine branches. The sharp pines scrap my palms and I give in, letting go and falling until… SMACK. I open my mouth in pain. "Ahh." I wince. "Ouch." I have managed to land on my back and scare off the birds perching in the trees. I lay on the forest floor, inhaling the pain, before gradually getting to my feet. I cover up the traces of blood and continue on my way, half limping, half holding my back. It's not long until I get hurt again.

_Cahaw! _The sound echoes through the forest, sending straight into a tree. _Cahaw! That's what I would say! _A voice yelped proudly. I look around for the source of the voice, which was quite hard since the creature was communicating by empathy link. I only shared this with Chi and I was very sure Chi's ghost wouldn't sound like that.

_I mean, who gave donkeys our signature sound? _The voice continued. _Sure, they change the first syllable, but I did not get a signed contract! He-lloo Hermes! You failed to send me my post! Terrible customer service…_

I look around in the tree tops. I see a single black smudge. I run towards it, wondering at what would be making such a noise.

_Or maybe the stupid animals didn't sign anything in the first place! I have copyright you know!_

I get closer to the black smudge, a single black crow, flying from branch to branch. I figure this is the empathy link speaker.

_What does copyright mean? _I direct to the crow.

_Caw! _The crow cries in surprise, and smacks into a tree trunk and smirk, then I stifle it as I remember my fall. _'I probably looked more peculiar.' _The crow recovers from the sudden bash and flies down from the topmost branches to rest on one just in front of me. _What? _The crow says. _You don't recognise my copyright issues? Have you not heard the dreadful sound of the _Equus africanus asinus_?_

_No, _I say honestly, _I don't know the word 'copyright' or the word 'post' or Ecky Africano Assassin, whatever that is._

The crow eyes me with its beady eyes. It paces along the branch, like inspecting me.

_And why can I hear you?_

It stops pacing and flaps its wings, shaking off pine leaves.

_Yes, _it mused. _Why can I hear you- Oh! _It interrupted itself. _Oh oh oh! You must be chosen! You must be that girl, that-_

_Child of Hades? _I ask, almost expecting it.

_Yes! _It yelled. _Your father sent-_

_My father sent you to tell me something, or to warn me._

The crow locked its yellow eyes with mine. _Oh, sorree. Don't mean to burst your bubble kid, but heck, you're the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me!_

I look at him, uninterested and duck below his branch. I keep walking.

_Hey! _The crow followed me. _Where you going?_

_Away._

_Ha, ha! You're an amazing joker._

_You've known me for a minute._

_Two, actually. You're not serious are you?_

_Look, _I sigh, _I'm just looking for someone who knows what my past was, and what I should do now. And no, I don't need you, so goodbye._

_Ohhh. That's what Hades meant._

_What? _The crow caught my attention.

_You don't need me so…_

_No! Just, please, I've lost my Alpha and my pack, I need answers._

_Then you seek the Delphic Oracle._

_What?_

_The Delphic Oracle. I know where she dwells._

_Lead me there._

_There will be a price…_

**_A/N Review!_**

**_I have this thing for music so... _**

**_The Wolves and The Ravens by Rogue Valley x_**

**_"_**Through the never-ending maze

Where the way is seldom clear  
>There is no map or compass near<br>I drive a ship I cannot steer"


	6. Just Another Girl

**_A/N Don't kill me, please. Neither literally or cyberally. If you really wanna know the reason, here's my three words._**

**_Test. Revision. Cramming. _**

**_I know, it was stupid. And have I mentioned at all the homework I need to do this weekend? But I'm still doing this for you guys, even if that means risking going past my "bedtime" and my "academic successes" and "the overdue homework"._**

**_Now that I've had my rant, onwards with the story!_**

**_This chapter is dedicated to my dear follower, reader and reviewer (hey guys, she's an excellent role model!), kiltcladdedreader, for the times when our lives can seem so bad that we always say "Je suis Deadoleé."_**

**_Also, there will be a considerable amount of mild swearing. (To be honest with you, I don't know what the difference is)._**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Me: Oh my gods, I saw this girl at my school holding Blood of Olympus! I was just like, OMG that book's amazing!_**

**_Rick: …_**

**_Me: Hey, I'm complementing you. To go with that compliment, I'll say that it all belongs to you. *bows reverently* Thank you, oh mighty creator of PJO, HoO and KC!_**

Just Another Girl

"What the hell, Kayla?!" A voice screeches in the early morning hours. "What. The. Hell." A loud crash of shattering glass echoes through the flat. _'Not now.'_ I pull a pillow over my head. _'Please not now.' _ I bury my head further into my thin covers and try to savour that feeling of acceptance. It was in a happy dream (for once), not the usual reoccurring nightmare of a dark demon voice tormenting me. It was like a stereotypical paradise, flourishing with exotic animals, especially those with the colour pink, a pastel dreamy pink. There were no muddy patches in the ground, or the disgusting imperfections of the wild. In stories – fairy tales – like Snow White, they always make the environment so… Perfect. So much as a hint of a mud puddle, they remove it. It just shows that reality is horrible. It's a disgusting, horrible world out there. Unfortunately, it's the only one I've got. I glare at my half-closed door where the landing light is leaking into my dark room. _'Cue the wailing and crying… three, two one-'_

"AHH!" More light switches snap on and a head peeks through my door.

"School time." Julia smiles sweetly, despite the background screaming and crying. "Uppy uppy!" I raise my eyebrow at her, sending my unspoken message: _'Do you think I look excited?' _She smiles rather exaggeratedly then returns to the carnage on the landing, where the twins were now getting physical, biting and kicking each other where appropriate. I wince as Millie head-butts Kayla into the wall, where her head knocks against it. She sits there, looking rather dazed. Millie smirks and gets up onto one knee, until Kayla gets back to her senses and pounces onto her. Millie screams and starts slapping her. Further down the hall, Julia has completely ignored them and has headed to the nearest mirror (which was her bedroom) and was now plucking at her eyebrows out with tweezers. I watched my foster family for another minute, before I burst into a rage.

"ENOUGH!" I yell. The flat goes silent, but my voice relents. "GET YOUR BUTTS OUT OF THE MIRROR," I reference to Julia, "GET YOUR BUTTS OFF THE FLOOR," I direct to the twins, "AND BLOODY GET YOUR HEADS BACK ON THIS PLANET. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE FUSSING WITH OUR APPEARANCES OR THE PROCESS OF DEARRANGING OTHER PEOPLE'S APPEARANCES. WE ARE GOING TO ACT LIKE A _PROPER_ FAMILY. DO YOU GET WHAT I'M SAYING HERE?!" I narrow my eyes at the twins, who looked as if still in the mood to punch each other. They slowly let go. Julia had plucked out an eyebrow rather forcefully and now there was a red patch to one side of her left eyebrow, which was bleeding. I slam the door on their staring faces and get changed for school.

Ten minutes later, I have calmed down and I am changed into my uniform, a kilt with a blue polo shirt. I head downstairs with my backpack. In the kitchen, Julia was cooking poached eggs and the twins were eating toast. Their uniform was creased and messy, but I couldn't help but notice that this was a definite improvement. I glanced at the time and hastily sat down, shoving egg and toast into my mouth. After cooking the last egg, Julia sat down at the breakfast table.

"You're tie's crooked." I say to Kayla, still with my mouth full. Millie quickly adjusts it, almost as if not to have an excuse to anger me, and I regret what I have done. I swallow anxiously.

"Look, I'm sorry for blowing up, okay?" I say. "I didn't mean anything by what I said."

"It's ok." Julia replies, but I don't feel very reassured. Her bleeding eyebrow was now covered with a plaster.

"Yeah, it's okay." Millie chirps, a dribble of syrup trickling down her chin. Kayla wipes it off with a tissue. I couldn't help but smile. I knew these twins could cooperate. I just hadn't found the right way yet. Oh, and Julia too. Sure, she wasn't the best foster mum according to stereotypical beliefs but she was pretty cool too. I put my plate in the sink and shrug on my bag.

"So…" I say, as I open the door. "Have a nice day! Get good marks on that test you two, and good luck on your re-sit of your driving test, Julia!" I shut the door before they have a chance to answer. A little boy is sitting at the top of the banister, looking ready to jump and slide down the rail. He freezes when I catch him, but instead I shake off the feeling inside. "Yuck." I say to no-one in particular. "Remind me to never copy the cheesy lines off American movies. Eww…" I shudder, "These feels are getting into me." I push past the little boy and slid down the banister, I knock a bin over and burst through our flat door and run down the street, where the bus is going to depart for Bourne Valley in approximately 35 seconds.

The bus gets to school 7 minutes late (unfortunately, "Every minute counts!" according to my tutor). The bus driver apologises to each person that leaves the bus and I don't stop myself as I say,

"Hey. At least you weren't-" I check my timer on my phone, "-nine minutes and 39 seconds late, because that's your average." I lop off the bus and go the long way around to my first lesson and walk into Science like a pro. Everyone is bent over a picture of what is supposed to resemble a magnified model of a nucleus of a cell. I join my friend Aja, who was doodling on her notebook – and the table but I didn't stop her – and my partner-in-crime Jake, who (as always) was informing the teacher that the model was inaccurately proportioned. I wave my hand at the teacher to let her know I'm here and catch up with the latest with my gang, pretending to label the picture.

"Why are you always late?"

"Bus, Jake, you know the norm." I raise my eyebrows. "Don't play that 'I don't know' game, 'cuz you know that you're the geek here."

"Sorry, Cleo." He shrugs. "You miss quite a lot of stuff in the morning."

"Yeah!" Aja lifts her head from her intricate drawing, "It was sooo weird, I mean, I couldn't have cared unless he CANCELLED THE ART FESTIVAL!" The room goes quiet for a quarter of a second before returning to the usual Monday morning chatter.

"What? Who?" I ask.

"The head teacher." Aja says in a sarcastic tone. "You know, the guy who's in charge of all this misery?"

I wave off Aja's wordy explanation. "Just cut to the chase."

"The point is," Jake says, looking over his shoulder to check for eavesdroppers and lingering teachers, "the head has cancelled all trips, festivals, tours; anything for leaving the school premises has been cancelled."

"For how long?"

"Until I'm allowed to get a driver's license." Aja says in a flat tone.

"No, really."

"No, I mean it. Until I get a driver's license. That's when I'm 18."

"Huh?" I say, absolutely confused. "But just two days ago he said he reinforcing the school-community bond."

"Not just that," Jake adds helpfully, "there's a new guy and three new teachers! Think about it!"

"New teachers at the end of the Winter Term? Does that mean they're psychopaths or something, that they knew we had two retiring teachers at Christmas break?"

"No! That means I have to start from scratch! The new teachers won't know my capability and it takes average teachers six months to get to know me!" Jake yelps. Me and Aja just stare at him, going, _'Dude. Nobody cares.'_ The teacher magically appears at our table.

"So…" The teacher looks over at our work. "What have you three done in this lesson?"

"Sorry," says Jake in his innocent voice. "I was just putting my friends' names on their work." He shakes his head. "It's so annoying when people do amazing work and then they don't put their names on it!" He shows the teacher the sheet, all correctly labelled and in three different writing styles. I try to hide my amusement as the teacher swiftly moves along. _'Jake has done it again!'_

At break, Aja had managed to smuggle a laptop from the IT office. Weirdly, Jake was looking around nervously, looking over his shoulder as we passed corridors and classrooms.

"Will you stop staring at the screen and help me find a spare room!" He hissed.

"Hey, it's your fault it's taking so long. We would be hacking the system by now if you hadn't turned down my offer!" Aja huffed, flicking her black curls from her face. She twirled this mood bangle (was there even such a thing?) around her finger and tried to look angry at us.

"I am NOT going to sit in a tree and dangle five metres off the ground!" Jake snaps.

"Hey…" I spot a gap between the building and the fence and climb out the window to land in the small space. The others follow, getting out through the door. I drag Aja further down the alley-way like gap. We sneak behind the maths block and sit against the fence, with the full view off the wall.

As Aja and Jake about hacking the school website I sat and stared at the brickwork, my eyes following the twisted branches of ivy creeping on the wall. _'Why can't nature be more tidier?' _I thought. I shifted uncomfortably on the gravel, my palms pressing on the stones. Little daisies were next to my fingers and I tickled them, feeling the tiny white petals. _'But it is beautiful.'_ I thought wistfully. Jake took the laptop off Aja and she leaned over to me.

"Pretty, huh?" She murmurs. "I've been wondering for ages whether to exploit the art of still life. But it just wouldn't go with my floral design. But it is nature," she reasoned herself, "and nature is beautiful in all forms." She traced the drawings on his skin, black Henna snaking from her fingertips to the back of her hand, to her arm. She had written there 'Aja Trisha' in cursive writing. I thought about how Aja was so creative it would have made Van Gogh cry and how she was always calm and when she did try to get cross, she'd just calm her down immediately, as if it was bad. Of course, Aja believed in bad karma so she'd never do anything bad… Unless it meant helping us out then yeah, she would do anything – one of those things would be stealing a staff laptop. Jake on the other hand… He was smart, no doubt about it. From any old random stranger's point of view, he seems like a desperate know-it-all brainiac, wanting to know new things. But I know it's a family thing. He's trying to be a good boy, that's all…

_'And no, I am not dating him or have a crush on him!'_

_'Dating is disgusting. It's just a posh word for being with someone but not actually being with someone. It's a phase before marriage.'_

_'But it is kinda cute when you see teenage couples walking around hand-in-hand…'_

_'But then you hear those stories, about people divorcing each other and dumping each other! It's rude and despicable, mean…'_

_'Dating is like a temporary bond between teens of our age.'_

_'This is also another reason why it's… I don't know, weird? Why date someone when you know it's supposed to end?'_

_'But then again, you could argue that's why there is such a thing. It's just a simple, laid back bond.'_

"Um, Cleo? You look like as if you've got a massive headache."

"Indeed, I have." I reply with the same tone. I bit back my response 'and I'm fighting with myself.' I think was going bonkers and I decided to leave that aside for the moment.

Loud jovial screams echoed from the music block.

"Oh my gosh he's sooo hot!"

"Did you see his cute face! OMG it just makes me wanna CRY!" Loud screaming followed this comment. Jake rolled his eyes.

"He's soooo young and fit!" Another exclaimed. I squirmed. _'Talk about unnecessary dating.' _The girls in the music block stopped screaming. I assumed the guy had walked back in the classroom. The strumming of a guitar and very lyrical words spilled from the open windows. A tingling fuzzed on my spine.

"'Till next time, ladies!" A teenage boy's voice announced. I heard the comical sounds of swooning as he departed.

_'See. Look how brain-bitingly weird that is!'_

**_A/N Just go with the flow peeps. Go with the flow…_**

**_Thanks to themightybibliophobic for suggesting this song: Welcome to My Life by Simple Plan_**

**_"With their big fake smiles and stupid lies,_**

**_While deep inside you're bleeding."_**

**_Peace out!_**


	7. My Gift and My Curse

**_A/N I don't know if I made it clear in the other chapters (my buddy Biblio kept asking me in the early days of this fanfic) why I don't put the person's pov at the top of the chapter._**

**_It's because I really don't believe in it. Hey, for all you know, you might not like some certain povs and be really sneaky and… *narrows eyes at fanfic readers* actually, it's because it's kinda ruining the excitement! You have to read the whole chapter to get to grips with the pov!_**

**_This chapter is dedicated to ALL my fanfic readers. Oh, did you misread that? I didn't think so! (PS If you read all of the A/N and just stumbled on this unknowingly, you are reading this correctly!) _**

**_Disclaimer:_**

**_Rick: Everyone, halloween's OVER, get back in the book!_**

**_HoO book characters: AWWW! _**

**_Leo: Hey, I can't leave! All the fangirls love me!_**

**_Percy: What's fanfiction? What's Percabeth? What are fangirls?_**

**_Me: EEEEEKKKK I need yoooouuuu._**

**_HoO characters: …_**

**_Me: That came out REALLY WRONG. _**

**_Rick: It sure did. It's totally wrong 'cuz I own them! Back into the book people! *groans of resentment*_**

My Gift and My Curse

Minty was bleeding.

The Shifting had taken us past the border and into a snowy summit. It was cold and the air smelled of… blood. I wipe my nose and the dark liquid stains the white snow. I look to the sky, where dawn was breaking; painting the sky some pinks and yellows. I juggle my silver knife between my hands, not knowing what to do. I waited, not really keeping track of the time, for Amynta to wake up. I chewed some mint leaves from her storage bag attached to her belt. Distant noises echoed through the snowy terrain. I focused around the pines around us, searching for any enemies lurking in the shadows. Sensing it was safe; I covered the ground with our moss blanket and removed her shoe. I suddenly felt like I needed to be sick. Feeling slightly helpless, I sat there for a moment, taking in what had to be done. Her ankle was broken, but a large gash had been cut. I remembered how I always reminded Minty that I was capable of surviving out here, by myself. Somehow she always took it upon herself to take care of us both and I realised; I had always resented it.

_'Now I really want you to wake up.' _I thought. _'But then I have to do this.' _I willed myself to be brave, but these chanting thoughts turned into memories of our first days of escaping when she sat next to me and told me that we'd be okay. She had always believed that I could do something and I could see that well. She told me stories, many of the Outside, many of which carried a meaning. There was something here, in the Outside that was better than Epidaurus. I loved the stories of the ancient heroes – I liked them the best. My favourite ancient city had to be Athens, the land of the gods. What would it be like, to walk in the footsteps of those heroes? And maybe to find a place of recognition? I want to know what it's like and to see more than the nature spirits of my hometown.

I looked down at my unconscious sister. _'Now it's time to try and keep ourselves alive.' _I ripped up our thin linen cloth and bound her wound as best as I could. I took the flask, my knife and the scarf and left to search for water. I go back and quickly leave the bottle of essence next to Amynta, in case she needed to wake and headed out into the dense forest. I walk delicately across the snow turning back and no longer seeing my sister. Instead, footprints in the snow behind me. I winced. I don't stop to cover them and continue on my way, my flat shoes filling with snow and the panicky feeling rising into my throat. A shadow looms over me and I jump to the cliff face, pressing into the earth and hoping for the thing not to see me. I hold my breath and the air gets caught in my throat and catches into a hiccup. The shadow disappears – it was probably a deer or something and I erupt into an uncontrollable sea of hiccups. I shake off the feeling and regain my senses. My toes feel wet at something beneath my feet.

It's a soppy green leafy stuff. I hold it to my nose and sniff. Smells wet and fresh… I crawl through the snow and spread before me is a loopy river and a never-ending pine forest. In the distance (it looked quite close to me) was a huge cliff dominating the sky, for all to see. My throat aches and I remember why I came. I rush to the river's edge and cup my hands to drink the water. After all that coughing – and not a hint of fresh water in days – I felt invigorated and mostly alive. Impatient for the water to reach from my cupped hands to my mouth I crunched up my face and eyes and plunged my face into the river. My first sight I see is a school of fish swimming away in surprise and I laugh, bubbles echoing in the seemingly peaceful water. I come back up for air feeling calm and filled with happy thoughts. _'This isn't so bad.' _I reasoned with myself. I looked around; all I was seeing was peaceful nature. White birds came to flock on the pebbled beach. _'What was Amynta's worry all about? She should have been thankful that we landed at a safe place. The Shifting isn't all bad…'_

I wipe my face with the remaining linen cloth. Wind tosses at the river, making it gently lap at my feet. For a moment I think I see a familiar face but then it disappears as soon as it came. Epidaurus was just like this, but more woodland and perhaps more sunnier. Nature spirits flourished there and nature was the most beautiful thing you'd ever see; and this would be all year round. The reason we fled… it's now too painful to talk about it. Minty hardly says a word about it and I feel as if we need to. She always thinks she's all alone, but I'm here too, and I've saved both us. I guess it's just to do with the fact we're related, lots of awkwardness but we still protect each other. It was hard enough getting away. And now we're getting out. That's what the Shifting is. It doesn't look like it but Minty's read a lot of books (some of which I have read too, they're really good) and she found out about the Shifting. According to some old book it's when two parallel worlds meet at a certain time in order for the Mist to travel around. They replace the land mass of one world with itself, almost like turning it over. It's been occurring all the time, so obviously the spirits in those worlds are not affected. The only thing that 'flips over' is a doorway of some sort. I am the only one who can see it.

I gaze across the river, where a harmless brown bear attempts to catch fish at a small waterfall. I see things anyone would see, I just see more than… I should do. Amynta calls it 'pure sight' and always urges me to continue seeing the things I see. But it's not as easy as that.

I stand and haul my small bag on my shoulder. My flask drops out and I go back to the water's edge to fill it. I notice that the sun is past noon and I decide I should journey back. Uncapping the lid, I see that familiar face again and I get pulled right in.

My first reaction is get out. I splash about, choking as this invisible force tries to pull me down further. Water is spluttered out as I breathe in between sinking and trying to push myself out. _'This water looks deeper than it looks.' _My chest heaves with exhaustion and my limbs begin to ache. But I can't give up now. I can't die like this. Whether it's my body regaining strength or the force weakening, I manage to get my breathing back to normal. I push myself out of the water, wading in it from the waist up. The water becomes suspiciously still. _'What's going on-'_ my thoughts are interrupted as I am pulled into the depths of the river. My eyes sting with water and the current forces me down once more. I look up, where the surface of the water is rising away from me. The sunlight dappling through the water does not reach the bed, where I am forced down. A cool current surrounds me and my sense shut down. I am panicking which is exactly what I shouldn't do. I'm not sure how I'm breathing. Choking on water? Choking on the air trapped inside? I feel my heart slowing down and my sight blurs. A figure emerges from the shadows of the deep and touches my forehead, like an embrace, but more distant. The feeling of relief is only brief as something pierces my mind. Harsher, more wild and more painful than I've ever imagined. My blurry vision of the river disappears and is replaced with a full scale glimpse of moving images.

The first is a bundle of two laying on a driftwood raft, being carried to the shore with an occasional gentle wave. As it pushes it to the shore, one cries in pain, skin clay black and a part of its body is glowing a pale blue. I choke in alarm, holding my palms to my face. A figure in a black cloak retrieves the bundles from the raft and tries to cradle them in his arms. He feeds the poisoned one with a bottle filled with more of that blue wispy stuff. The other cries too and he tries to rock them back and forth, soothing them both. A chanting and a series of stamping make the twins cry out louder and a rustling from the bushes makes the stranger disappear, leaving them back on the raft. A familiar spirit holds the twins close and the scene swiftly changes. I am standing in a corner of a golden shining palace, clouds dotted everywhere as a bit of the building. A band of nature spirits play a calming tune in the background. Before me is a u-shape of chairs, each different and each riveting with power. A boy stands in front of these giant people, gesturing with his hands. Their expressions are hard to see, but I sense that they aren't happy with what he proposed to them. The one in the middle nodded and said something to the others. They raised their hands and the boy turned to leave. A line of one-eyed men stood at either side of him, saluting him like he was a hero. The scene darkens considerably. I am standing on a grassy plain dotted with occasional pine trees. I almost think I am back with Amynta, but I turn and I know that I'm not. Small huts dot around like a border, some untouched and some half-sinking into the ground. The ground bubbles with flowing lava and further on is a house half-wrecked, (so you can see the inside) and a geyser erupting from the ground. The wood walls are crackling with distinguishing flames. I turn my head to try and see the writing on a nearby sign, when my vision blacks out completely. It's pitch black all around me and being lifted on someone's head, was a victory wreath. But instead of the shining gold leaves, it was a mouldy green, dripping with blood, pierced with five different eyes on sticks, emanating this power of fear and-

I burst from the surface and drag myself to the shore, gasping. I just lay there on the stones, gasping and gasping. I open my eyes, but still, I see nothing. I blink and feel my eye lashes against my skin. I sit up and feel around me, try and duck my head to look at the floor, but still, nothing. A sharp pain burns my eyes and I clamp my hands over my ears and try to scream out the pain. I scream, for all its worth, screaming to get my sight back. I hear birds taking to fly and I search for something to see. But still, nothing. _'WHY WOULD MY SIGHT BE TAKEN FROM ME?' _I scream inside. Panic reaches inside me once more and I try to get up to run. I manage a few steps before stumbling over something cold. _'Snow. Snow!' _I realise. "Amynta! Minty!" I cry out. "Help!"I sob and put my arms around myself, the cold now getting to me. Someone runs towards me, perhaps kind of dragging themselves through the snow and embraces me. Minty rocks me back and forth until I stop my silent crying. She wipes the tears from my cheeks and holds me by the shoulders and I sense she's looking me straight in the eye.

"Mia?" She asks. She's worried, I know, and she's trying to be brave. Again. "Are you okay? You look scared. Where did you go?" She brushes away the hair in my face. "Can you tell me? What happened?" Her voice cracks on the last question. _'She knows. She always knows.' _I whispered repeatedly in my mind. "Look at me, Mia." She says firmly. "Look at me." I bury my face into my hands and cry. I shake my head, not wanting to tell her. In between sobs I manage to say it.

"I can't see. It's dark Amynta. I can't see anything!" Minty stays quiet but I choke out more words. "But I saw something. Things that was terrifying." I whisper the last words. "I think I've been cursed." Amynta gasps as something swiftly enters the clearing with us.

_'Indeed a curse, my fateful sister had inflicted upon you.' _A voice shook the snowy summit. _'Of course it was never meant for you. But we can oblige to reconsider our tactics. Besides, your kind… it's very satisfying to see our sisters' curses touching you.' _I hear Amynta retrieve Shapeshifter from her sabre tooth.

"αλλαγή!" She yells and the shifting sound of the white stick pierces the quiet valley. I know she has changed it into a spear.

_'One touch,' _the voice warned. _'And a curse from the dead will be penetrated to you.'_

"Why don't you just go and kill us, instead of playing 'come and get me'." Amynta challenged.

_'Why you don't understand little one,' _cooed the voice. _'I am here to receive justice for my sister, for that was unfair game you played.'_

"You're an ara. Daughter of Nyx. Why would you want justice? You're supposed to die-" Amynta jumps to her feet and holds the spear to the ara despite her wound. "-and we're supposed to kill." I cover my ears, for the noise of monsters dying is a painful one. She plunges her spear into the ara and I hear it scream. Amynta stumbles, cursed by the ara. Quickly, sharp talons scrap my neck and the monster disappears. My sight reappears as soon as it is gone, and the absence of light has made my eyes squint at normal daylight. Minty is afflicted with another wound, on her upper leg, which seems familiar. I touch my neck, and black sticky stuff comes away into my palms. Amynta widens her eyes in alarm.

"Darkness itself penetrated into a human." A voice announces in the treetops above us. "Now that's something that will kill."

**A/N I'm British but I'll say it anyway: Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry for the wait for this chapter, hope it satisfied you.**

**Here's your chapter song: A Fool's Dance by Phillip Phillips**

**"Who am I, who are you, what are we anymore?**

**just the darkness in my life like a hole in the floor."**

**Ira x**


	8. Darkness Itself

_**A/N I am changing this fanfic to a T because I just realised that my description is slightly graphic (trust me, I could go into a lot of detail if I wanted to).**_

_**Dedicated to themightybibliophobic, apology for nicknaming you incorrectly and thank you, you're doing so much for me, I can't say how much I am thankful.**_

_**And to Sai Og Sus, thanks for the review, will keep in mind x**_

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**My BFF: So what's a disclaimer?**_

_**Me: It's like me saying I don't own the original characters, places, things etc.**_

_**My BFF: But technically it's your story, so it belongs to you.**_

_**Me: No, not the things that Uncle Rick invented, like Percy and Camp Half-Blood…**_

_**My BFF: But YOU published it and it's mostly your stuff right?**_

_**Me: *facepalms* this is what I get from people that are not in my fandom.**_

Darkness Itself

_What kind of payment are you talking about? _I ask, slightly suspicious. _How can I trust you, a crow?_

_RAVEN! _The black bird screeched in my mind. _I'M A RAVEN! _It flapped its wings vigorously and squawked, obviously annoyed. It narrowed its eyes at me.

_I guess I'm _not _the best thing that ever happened to you? _I challenged the raven. I was hoping it was going to fly away and leave me alone, for one thing. Then I remembered his offer, an Oracle that would answer my questions. The raven tilted its head and studied me. I suddenly felt really self-conscious and wary. If I were to agree to this deal, I would be really dependent on this bird. It would be a huge risk. But then again, how many risks had I taken today?

The raven settled on a snowy log. _The price is quite a big one-_

_I don't have anything._

_Shush! _The raven tutted at me. It paced along the log and continued. _Be aware it's not just a literal price. By communicating with me, you have already given a big part of the sum – your life. Then, if you escape Alaska, then the gods will be able to influence you. You will no longer be hidden from our world. _The raven held out his wing and pointed at me. _But the literal price… _He put his wing to his beak, contemplating what to ask from me. I figured I should offer something to him before he started thinking about Chi's fur for a price. My Alpha may be dead and gone, but I still need this – to show them that he wasn't evil. Maybe Chi's eyes have cleared underneath his closed eyelids. _Could you… _The raven suggested slowly. _Get me an onyx? _

_What's that? _I ask. I realise that I've been standing in the same spot for ages. The wind blows harder and I pull the fur coat over my shoulders.

His eyes gleamed. _It's a stone that has the power to make the owner associated with Darkness. It's blacker than anything. Even the night sky. Formed by Nyx herself – then pulled up to the surface by children of Hades. She makes them to message her children, to send them to inflict their curses on the most doomed souls. Then she uses it to replenish the arai essence when they return back to Tartarus. _The raven sighed. _The pride I will have when I own a piece of Darkness. _

_You think I can pull up stones like that?_

_Maybe. As a child of Hades, you could be gifted with the power to pull up precious metals from the earth, from your father's domain. _I put my hand to the snow and tried to focus. I closed my eyes and saw a distant light shape in the darkness. _Don't do it now! _The raven squawked. He shook me hard from my senses. It took a lot of blinking to stop the raven spinning in my sight. _No Underworldy stuff while we're here. _He scolded. From the snowy log, he got up to perch on my head. _I'll let you have a bit of time to get your hands on an Onyx. In the meantime… Let's go! Three day journey didn't you say it was? _The raven bent over to look at me, so I now had a clear view of an upside-down raven squawking in my face. I grit my teeth in annoyance and climb over the log and continue through the woods.

Only half-hour passed before the raven started to talk to me again. _What's your name? I'm Kevorka, BTW. You can call me Kev. _He tittered happily, waddling around on my head.

_What does BTW mean? And what do you mean by post? What do you mean by the other things you've said? _I ask him, avoiding the question he asked me. It was getting to the afternoon sun and we were now trekking through the thicker part of the forest. I brush away a branch in front of me and it hits Kev in the beak.

_Oomph! What? _He coughs (if ravens could cough) and black feathers float away. _Ohh. Right. Well, if you wish to know; you have to know one thing. Children of Hades are undesirable with the Olympians. Long ago, the three eldest gods made a pact to never sire any more demigods. These three gods were Poseidon, Zeus and Hades. Then, there was the first prophecy after that. It concerned a child of the three eldest gods. This boyHe was a son of the Sea God. _Out of the corner of my eye I see Kev gesture with his wing. _I won't go into too much detail about him, but what I mean to emphasis is: a child of Hades also fought in the war and he-_

_Really? There's another child of Hades? Is he still alive? When was this great prophecy? _I ask, intrigued by the fact I might have a sibling.

_Will you stop interrupting? Anyways, this boy was congratulated for his effort – he did play a large part – but then the other demigods pushed him away. Then again, he was involved in the Prophecy of the Seven. And he didn't get any credit for it – well, not major credit anyway – and again, he played an important part. _The raven scoffed. _That Athena statue. _Kev cleared his throat. _The point is, as long as Hades is an outcast to the Olympians, so will his children. And his children will be exactly like that boy – working hard for the prophecies to come true. _

_Wait. How do you know that? _I say, suddenly defending my family I didn't even know. _How do you know that we will still be used in the same way?_

_Time repeats itself. _Kev answered automatically. _Always. The Fates like to weave a similar fate for existing heroes, just like the good old past._

_So I'm being used? _I say indignantly, not believing that I actually fell for my father's scheme.

_Hey, Hades isn't all bad. Look at you, safe from the Olympians for 14 years! Raised by a good pack of wolves, safe from harm, monsters… Most demigods are involved with our world when they're ten or eleven. You look like you're an experienced fighter._

_But I only want to see this Delphic Oracle! _I protested.

_And that's exactly where he wants you to go! In my opinion, he should have sent you to the other camp. Don't think it would be a good idea to put you two together in the same camp._

_Camp? _I ask helplessly. Completely disorientated and confused, I stopped to rest at a cedar tree. I slumped against it and drank some of my water from my flask. Kev got off to stretch his wings, swooping amongst the highest tree branches. _Tired? _He asked. _You should have told me. _My head cleared a little once he had got off it. _'Kev must be really heavy for a raven.' _I thought privately. But the little private thought made my head spin faster and I instantly regretted it. I held my hands to my forehead, trying to force the ache out. _Will you just leave me alone for a second? _I manage to tell Kev.

_Sure. Is that like a proper second, a second that's really quick or like, a longer second? It tends to be the longer second doesn't it? So I'm guessing about a couple of minutes? _Kev is only a little black speck above me and I can still hear him as loud as he was talking to me whilst he was on my head. I force his voice away, forcing the Empathy Link away. _You know what? I'll just-_

And just like that, his voice goes silent. The sharp pain, which turns out to be a bland empty tone fades out. My mind clears and my head feel lighter. I sigh in relief. I also felt more guarded, without Kev in my mind, snooping in on my thoughts. _'How come Chi's link was never as painful as this?' _I shrugged off the thought and tried to embrace this moment of silence. Kev was still flying from branch to branch, completely unaware that I wasn't listening anymore. For a moment, I forgot about Chi's death, Hades and Kevorka the raven. I was just staring into empty space. I put my hands on the ground to steady myself and I suddenly felt aware of what was beneath me in the ground. I could sense a couple of animal bones: none were human. I got up slowly and backed away into the shadows. The power grew stronger when I stepped closer to this small pine tree, just a bit bigger than me. Something was inside it, maybe the remnants of an animal? I held out my hand and something inside stirred. The tree opened up like an egg; branches bending and the bark splitting. A long branch was inside, deathly black. I opened up my half-closed hand further and the long branch flies into my palm. Now with it in my hand, I know it is not a type of branch that you would get from a tree. It feels cold and the top is split into three; curling on itself as if made to hold something, along with strange markings cut onto the surface. Where my hand is clasped, I see that up and down it, tiny gems dot the surface of the object. As I hold it, a sense a passing of a significant event. The coat feels heavier than before as I remember how much Chi meant to me. But, this feeling was different and maybe his death meant something else – after all, Chi was an Alpha, the leader of the 600th clan, one of the most important clans among the ancient wolf packs. And now with the Chi pack scattered and the white wolves…

Anger boils inside me again and a grey liquid leaks from the gems. It trickles through the engravings and drips onto the ground, narrowly missing my foot. It falls into a little stream beside me. The water turns a black gloop; the dead end of the stream disappears down into a large hole that had just opened up and the other end is being sprouted from the ground, creating an endless supply of these black liquid. The surrounding plants shrivel up. I edge away, but don't break into a run because it felt familiar. I return back to the cedar tree and attempt to hide the long gem-ed stick behind my back.

_Aha! What've you got there?_

"Nothing! Nothing, nothing." I reply. Kev's voice sounds a little distant – a good thing too, because he didn't invade my personal space. I still felt like before, but now I could hear him. Kev looks at me accusingly. "What? No really, I mean it! It was just there, and there, it just…" I give up trying excuses and just look at him.

_Give it here. _I resist, holding it tighter behind my back. _Give it to me. _I concentrate on his outstretched wing and slowly hand it to him. Then, instinctively I twist the rod, turning it the other way. I lunge towards Kev (who is perching on a branch directly in front of my face) and swipe and twist. I narrowly miss his body and I sliced the branch in two. The rush ends and I lower the rod, the end I am pointing with is sharp – a slanting base made with a shiny solid. Kev falls onto the forest floor. I realise I'm panting with exhaustion, but not really feeling tired. I am lost for words.

Kev scrambles out of the snow and yelps in surprise. _WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FEATHERS?! _His left side is now left bear with flesh instead of feathers. It looks a little odd as he still has his wing feathers. Just behind his closed wing is a bear patch. _Dude. That, is not cool. I'm gonna keep a close eye on you. _Kev tries to put a dominating angry tone to his voice, but somehow I can tell he's quivering inside. I follow the path through the trees without answering him. I use the long rod to wade through the damp leaves. Kev flies on, but never leaves my sight.

It's the third day. I know because I can almost smell the fresh water. It's not far. But I sense something's around us and Kev did too. He's gone to scout the area. Meanwhile, I'm treading carefully over the snow. It's lucky I've been raised for light, quick movements and speed, because the snow is about half of me, deep and fresh. We've gone through the first forest and now all I need to do is cross this snowy plain. _'It's not far,'_ I keep reminding myself. '_It's not far.' _I felt desperate to get out. _Tana? _Kev's voice sounds as loud as it was before. _Come on. You gotta see this. _Over the past few days, I learnt how not to question the things Kev said. It was a little ignorant – no-one would kind of forgive me for the fact I didn't know their rituals. Talking about rituals, being able to lead my own journey is against our pact. Ranks are ranks – do not cross the boundaries. Omegas, are the least of all. _There's something by the river… _He says.

_Stay out of sight. _I tell him. _I'll check it out_. The 'forest' was more of a long line of overgrown shrubs. I step in and immediately get knocked to the ground by a flock of birds. I turn and stare as they fly away. A figure was running towards the river's edge. It had hands, like mine and had no fur or tail. It was a human, a human being splashing water to her face. I crept along the pebbled beach to get a closer look. It washed her face and put her feet in the water, leaning back and looking content. It was a girl with long sunshine hair. She stayed by the river's edge for a while longer, and I disappeared into the shadows.

_So you found her. _I jumped, surprised. Kev was perched on top of the wooden staff – Polmkh, I called it. He better off sitting there than my head. _Yes, _I spoke to him through the Empathy Link. _She wouldn't be here alone though… She seemed… Very calm. _Kev nodded. _Good. What else? _I frowned. _What do you mean 'what else'? _

_Was she armed? _I try to remember what I saw. _Um, a long shiny object, something made of metal, and it was round. _

_I can't picture that._ Kev sighed. I shrugged. _She didn't seem like a threat._

_But that's what's so deadly about them! They tell lies and deceive you then – BOOM! _Kev smacks his wings together and a feather comes off. _You're gone. _I catch the feather. _What if I met them? _I said, twirling his black feather between my fingers. _Then what? _Kev looked at me gravely. _Then you should dispose of them immediately. _I looked down at Polmkh's base, its tip looking sharper than usual.

I don't sleep. It's more like closing your eyes but still being awake. I guess I didn't want any risks before – now sleeping like this has become a habit. I hear an eerie hum – a low hum like the sound of a bee's nest. It echoed around me and I turned, seeing nothing. The forest was dark but the sun was still up. Kev was nowhere to be seen. Something fell in the snow and I crept back into the darkness.

"Amynta! Minty!" A voice cries out. "Help!" Someone sobs. I sneak a look from behind the tree I am hiding behind, and it is the girl with golden hair. Her eyes are no longer peaceful, but wide and unnerved, looking around frantically. I hear more footsteps in the snow – but heavy footed, as if being dragged. Another girl comes over and embraces her. A cold needle-like pain seeps over my shoulder around my neck. I fidget in the dark. "Mia?" The other asks. "Look at me Mia. Look at me." I hear desperation in her voice and it stirs the same feeling I had when Chi had been poisoned. I look around for predators, but all I see is darkness. "I can't see. It's dark, Amynta. I can't see anything!" She whispers quickly. I can hear her gasping between every few words she's saying. "But I saw something. Things that were terrifying." My heart jumps into my throat. "I think I've been cursed." I try to run, but I just melt with the darkness. Then from behind me, a bat like creature loomed out. Instinct didn't overtake me – I froze, not wanting to be seen.

'_Indeed a curse, my fateful sister had inflicted upon you.' _The creature hissed. _'Of course it was never meant for you. But we can oblige to reconsider our tactics. Besides, your kind… it's very satisfying to see our sisters' curses touching you.' _I hear a snapping sound. A twig was now in two, and at my feet. Kev was in the trees flapping his wings in alarm. _Get away, Tana! Run! _The _ara_ made its way towards the two girls. I used this as a chance to climb the tree, scaling it fast but delicately. Kev was shouting warnings to me, but I just couldn't hear him. I needed to see this.

From above I had a better view, the girl with the gold hair, Mia, looks around her feeling her way into the snow. She freezes as the _ara_ speaks. The other, takes a small stick from a pocket and holds it so the tip points to the sky. "αλλαγή!" She yells. The white stick grew taller and longer, into a staff like mine. It was silver and had two deadly slanting edges to each side. She held it down onto the ara, defending the blinded girl.

'_One touch,' _the ara warned. _'And a curse from the dead will be penetrated to you.'_

"Why don't you just go and kill us, instead of playing 'come and get me'." The girl challenged. I had to shake my head at that. It was brave, but this was a monster. You don't taunt them into doing any more than they should do.

I understood the girl's curse now. She had been cursed by one of the dead. But how? She wasn't armed. Unless…

'_Why you don't understand little one,' _cooed the voice. _'I am here to receive justice for my sister, for that was unfair game you played.' _Justice? I never knew that monsters ever wanted justice. What was the word? Revenge.

"You're an ara. Daughter of Nyx. Why would you want justice? You're supposed to die - and we're supposed to kill." She stabs the ara with her spear-staff and she stumbles back, cursed by the dying ara. Whilst she disintegrates and disappears, she swipes her sharp talon hands at the girl, who seems able to see again. Three scar lines appear on her neck, dripping with black liquid… Like the white alpha's teeth and Chi's eyes – poisoned. They were poisoned. By the _ara_? More than one probably. I close my eyes and the fear jumps through me and I am facing Chi again, with his stained eyes, getting ready to kill him.

"Darkness itself penetrated into a human." I say, and open my eyes down to the two girls below. "Now that's something that will kill."

_**A/N I am to blame for being three weeks late. This should have been finished by Thursday but I got sick :( Chapter Nine will be up faster x**_

**_I won't explain any more: Wolf Bite by Owl City_**

**_Just listen to the whole dam song. It's so this chapter..._**

_**Ira x Review!**_


	9. Allies

**Chapter 9**

**A/N I can't tell whether you guys are OK with the story so far... Something wrong? Just drop me a PM or a review ~ Ira x**

**Disclaimer:**

**You think I'm Rick Riordan? Ack, asdfghjkl. Just. Just. I'm not.**

Maya's PoV

I shift in my bed, squirming in the awkward silence. I wait expectantly. Annabeth nods slowly, taking in what I've just said. I can't tell whether she's angry at me, or even pitying me. The look she's giving me is unreadable. "I'd do it myself but..." She trailed off in thought again. The girl with the frizzy blonde hair rested her head in her hands, balancing her elbows on her knees. "Hey." Annabeth turns to her, "You can go now if you want."

"Can I come?" I ask. Piper, the girl on the windowsill, locked eyes with Annabeth. They made a silent agreement. "Alright." Annabeth agreed. The girl held out her hand and helped me up. "I don't know if I can do this anymore-" Annabeth sighs into her palms, as we leave and close the door.

"Wow." The girl muttered, looking back over her shoulder, impressed by Cabin One. How could anyone like Cabin One? There aren't even any proper beds; well, before I came and ordered one to be placed there. It's not homely at all. I look at her questioningly and she she looked back at me, trying to figure me out. My gaze wandered. I looked myself up and down - I didn't look great to be walking around camp. My t-shirt was burnt and faded and my jeans were tattered. At least, a new hoodie was over my shoulders. I hitched it higher around my neck.

"You're lucky to have Jason and Thalia as your siblings." The girl speaks in the silence. I look down the slight slope of the valley and the cabins spread around me.

"Yeah?" I say, but I'm actually quite surprised. I hadn't met Thalia yet and Jason was nice to me, I suppose. If she's doing this to cheer me up then I won't work.

"Oh yeah. My siblings have no sense of 'quiet time' after curfew."

"Which cabin are you?"

"Apollo."

"I thought it might be Hermes." I looked at the cabin that resembled a lot like a normal summer house. The girl seemed to be leading me towards that cabin.

"Ha, yeah. I suppose I can't complain. Every cabin has their good intentions and their bad habits." I sense she's hinting something and I try to ignore it. All around us, campers stood at their porches, as if they were confined to them. They looked at me and pointed me out to their friends. The girl seemed oblivious to this; she thought for a moment, her ponytail swishing slightly as she walked. "I'm actually nothing like my dad." She admitted.

"Neither. And look at my siblings - Thalia was, and still is, lieutenant to Artemis and Jason... Wasn't he a leader of Rome or something?"

"New Rome, yeah."

"I guess I'm not holding up the family reputation."

"You can't be expected to do heroic things yet," the girl reasoned, "even for a child of the Big Three." I sighed. She was lying. There _was _that expectation: I had to turn out one way or another like my legendary siblings. She led me inside Cabin Eleven, which was packed with people. Sleeping bags covered the floor and only a couple of beds were there, shoved at the back and packed together to try and make some extra space. A boy pushed past me and ran through the sleeping bags. He whipped his fringe out of his eyes as he ran, sending bags flying and a guys choking in some chocolate. "Sorry!" He said cheerfully, "oops! Uh, I'm coming through!" Simultaneous groans echoed from the cabin. Twin boys sat leaning on a footboard of a bed, one motioned for everyone to quieten down. The other took a package from the boy who was running towards them. "I'll just be a sec." The girl said, and went up to one of the twins, explaining something. They look at me and nod. The boy who had just given package looked me up and down. He had a jet black hair and a blocked fringe that just reached his eyebrows. He gave me a sideways look and an emphasised wink. I narrowed my eyes at him in reply.

The girl came back. "It was really nice meeting you, Maya. But you don't mind if I go? I'm back to normal schedule, you see."

"Yeah, sure."

"Lenny will show you around." She shot him a look that clearly said, I-trust-you. And she left the cabin, her ponytail swishing behind her. "See you later!" She called.

"I hope I didn't say anything."

"No, no. Nikki's pretty laid-back," Lenny said cheerfully. "She's genuinely nice... So I'm supposed to give you this tour."

"You don't need to," I blurt, "uh, I've seen most of it already."

"You've seen the _insides_ of Cabin One, the _outsides _of Cabin Thirteen and the pavilion."

"I haven't seen the pavilion." Lenny stares at me in disbelief. "I brought snack bars."

"You have been deprived of the wonderful virtues of a demigod summer camp. Now come on!"

"This isn't necessary!" I call after Lenny.

"It's not necessary. It's vital! VITAL!" He runs down the path past the showers and towards a lake. I have no choice but to follow.

"What is it you want to show me?" I ask, slightly irritated now.

"This is the canoe lake." He gestured to the wide lake around us and I roll my eyes. "That down there is the climbing wall and that's the fireworks beach. Behind us, is the Big House and the strawberry fields-"

"Strawberry fields?"

"Oh yeah. It pays for all the bills, the equipment and all the other things in the expenditure. Now where was I? Oh yes, and the forge and the pegasus stables. Then you'll learn how to fly-"

"Really?" I say, really perked up. "Like, fly in the sky?" I heard the children of the Big Three could do some really cool things in their godly parents domain. _'I wonder...' _

_"_Yeah! Then, there's the North Woods, where - if we're lucky - we'll get to do capture the flag! It's like normal capture the flag but... You'll see." He squealed and I looked up at him in surprise. "What? Can a guy not get excited?" I was starting to think that Lenny was a bit... Weird? No, not like, weird. More like very weirdly unusual. He was so unlike a normal teenage guy, he was weirdly cheerful amongst everyone who were either really annoyed, angry or confused and really, really freaky... I nodded and decided to just go with the flow.

He led me past the Big House and the arts and crafts centre. As we walked by the centre packed with colour-obsessed kids, he said something about yes, people needed cheering up sometimes. He was all about making people laugh. But then, he assured me he'd be around if I needed help. Paleese. I can take care of myself. It was nice of him to say that though. But afterwards, he nudged me and arched his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes, again. We continued down the path to the strawberry fields and Lenny started dancing with a fellow satyr playing the pipes in between the bushes. I looked up, and the faint outline of a Pegasus was soaring in the sun setting afternoon. Did it really take that long?

When we returned back to the cabins, everyone was in a better mood than this morning. The Aphrodite cabin was swarming with onlookers. A loud shout followed by girly screaming was also followed by the Stoll brothers running out (Lenny's half-brothers, the counsellors of the Hermes Cabin) were covered in confetti and streamers and some very peculiar attire... Campers gawked and laughed; I couldn't help but do the same. A horn sounded from somewhere distant. "Now for traditional barbecue!" He ran off to join with the rest of the Hermes cabin. I looked around for Jason, but no one was coming out of our cabin.

Thankfully, no one paid much attention as I slipped in later than everyone else. I sat at the same table Jason was already sat on. It was empty apart from me and him, and Lenny and Nikki were nowhere close by. He passed me a plate of a slice of barbeque, some greens and strawberries. The campers were buzzing with excitement and I couldn't figure what it was all about. Then I remembered.

_"Capture the flag. It's like normal capture the flag but... You'll see."_

The way Lenny had said it made it sound positively crazy. And dangerous. Now _that _sounded interesting. I made my way to the offerings pit. At every meal, every demigod gave a part of their meal to the gods, in the fire. I closed my eyes and instead of whispering my father's name, I simply said,

"Let my mother be safe." The fire flared up and I stepped back surprised. But I wasn't taking it back. She was gone, but she needed to be safe, even in her afterlife.

I found Nikki on another table, talking with other kids who looked quite similar to her. There were quite a lot of them, but not as much as another table, people sitting on the edge of the bench.

"Hey."

"Hey!" She said. "what do you think - do "perfect guys" have to have a six-pack?" I opened my mouth to answer but instead she answered the question herself. "Yeah, he would." She says over her shoulder, to her friends.

"A six-pack of what?" I blurted. "Coke? Diet coke?" Suddenly the tension on my shoulders eased off. I felt a bit more confident. "What for? An endless supply of coke-related beverages?"

The whole pavilion fell silent. It was so cliché that I knew what was gonna happen next. They started laughing; I wasn't sure whether they were laughing at me or at my joke. Nikki was rolling her eyes - not angry or anything, just like "oh wow".

In between eating and the clattering of utensils, Jason explained capture the flag to me.

"Here's the teams for tonight." He passed me a piece of paper:

Nike (Red Team) ~

Poseidon, Apollo, Hebe, Hermes, Hecate, Demeter, Iris and Nemesis

Athena (Blue Team) ~

Zeus, Hephaestus, Hades, Ares, Hypnos, Dionysus, Tyche and Aphrodite

"Is our team any good?"

Jason winced. "The Ares cabin aren't cooperating, in fact, it made Annabeth so cross that she had to go and ask them to be on their team... Our teams the smallest too. And Nike is _really_ competitive."

"We're competitive. We're gonna whip their butts."

It took me a while to get the hang of putting on the amour. I took my dagger Astrapí from my Converse, turning it around in my palm, sending gleams that illuminated the night. It was a gift from my father: supposedly. It fell out of the sky right after I was claimed.

Two boys from the Nike cabin paraded through the crowd of blue and red plumed campers, holding a glittering gold banner. It was embellished with a pair of silvery-gold wings and a white trophy.

"Shame they didn't put a pair of trainers on their flag!" I shout over the noise to Jason. One of the boys shoots me a dirty look. Astrapí extends to a long sword and gestured with it, which translated to:

_We will _thrash_ you._

The crowd split into the two teams. I cheered along with the blue team. The conch horn sounded and we ran off into the night.

Minty's PoV

Blood.

If I'm not doing something active, I'm either being interrogated or bleeding. The cut on my leg is up high and I'm slumped on the floor, struggling to get up. Mia stands, slightly dazed from the Ara. The voice, a cloaked figure, jumps from the trees.

"I'm not joking." It said. "Most likely it will poison you, then drive you mad to _death_." I forced myself to sit up. A pair of grey eyes were staring at us in the shadows.

"Wait." Mia says, confused. "What?" She turns, and where the Ara had pounced on her, left three scratch marks. Her neck started to turn black.

"Your _neck." _I gasp. She feels her neck, expecting something to come away in her palms.

The grey eyes in the shadows flickers. "I can help."

"It won't kill, would it?" She says, not really believing it.

The figure stepped out. It was a girl, similar or maybe older than our age. Like us, she wore simple woven clothes. Dark brown hair hung in front of her face. She held a staff in her hand and pointed to her cloak with the staff. "This is what happens when a living being gets poisoned by Darkness."

As my eyes focused, I saw it wasn't just a cloak. It was a fur coat. The fur of a grey wolf.

A raven flew out from behind me and batted its wings against the girl's face, as if to stop her from saying anymore. Swiftly, she turned up the staff and held off the bird with the sharp point. The bird flew off in a hurry.

"You're serious about helping us." I noted. "You know, now's a good time to kill us."

"Well you're both kind of dying anyway." The girl answered in a quiet voice. It was small, but it was enough to make the forest echo. I winced as the pain in my leg increased. She stepped towards us.

"That," she said, pointing to the large gash in my leg, "that I can't help." The girl twisted her staff upright and pointed to Mia's poisoned neck. "Could try drawing it out. That's how-" I thought her voice cracked a little, "-it was done with this." My eyes flickered to the wolf skin draped over her shoulders.

"Are you sure-" Mia starts, just as the girl raises her staff and says,

"Hold still."

They both freeze. Mia fixed her gaze on the staff and the girl concentrated on the end of the staff, which held a white gem of some sort. After a moment, the girl lowers her staff. Mia blinks, thinking the same thing I was: shouldn't there be more? Flash of light? A noise? The stains disappearing?

"Maybe you should sleep it off." I suggested.

But I had no suggestions for the girl who had attempted to save my sister. I didn't know what to make of her.

"We should start a fire now," the girl said, gathering up stones and wood without a hesitant move. "Before nightfall." I try to inch around and help.

"You don't know how to handle this?" I say, my leg still bleeding out.

"I don't know everything, okay?" She says in her quiet voice. "It's not a normal wound."

I look over to Mia, who had dropped off to sleep. The poison had starts to fade away and drip from the scratch wounds.

The girl lowers her head. "My name's Tana."

I do the same. "Amynta." I am surprised that this girl knows the balances and rules of nature.

"Why are you here?" Tana asks, more curious than anything.

"Travelling. Moving. Running away."

"From who?"

"From _what_." I correct. "Our hometown."

The raven is back, and it perches on a branch, watching me with its beady eyes.

"Kev's just annoyed. He'll get over it." She said, and the bird squawked right back. Was this...an empathy link?

"How about you?" I say, steering the conversation in a different direction. "Who are you running from?"

The girl gave me a stern look. "Not running away. _I'm actually going somewhere_." I narrowed my eyes at her, suddenly offended.

"You don't know where you're going, do you?" She whispers. I scowl and don't say anymore. I don't waste my time getting angry at her.

Tana's PoV

Amynta doesn't sleep, instead she just sits there, the blood drying out on her leg. She does know how to look after herself out here. Whether that measured up to wolf-senses, I don't know.

All the while I sit out the night, Kev shouts at me through the link.

_You have just plucked my last feather! _

_Have you realised what you have done?_

_You have away your identity, your intentions, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO SAY?_

_All the while they're being all nicey-nicey, they could have been the ones who summoned the Arai!_

The chiding turned sour, and Kev started to think of darker things.

_Kill them now, while they're still down._

_Let's leave them here - you saw yourself, they don't have anywhere to go. They'll die soon enough._

And at the peak of my irritation:

_Use Polmkh, poison them with the rivers of the Underworld-_

_ENOUGH! _I shoutboth verbally and internally. I look to Amynta and her sister. They're both sound asleep.

_I don't care what you think. _I hiss at Kev. _They're_ _coming with us to the Oracle._

_*page break*_

As soon as Amynta leaves to go to the river, I check up on Mia.

"It's gone." I say, in disbelief.

Mia thinks for a moment. "What happened to that wolf?"

I tense. "You don't have to tell me."

"Long ago," I started, "an Alpha wolf found a young human child. Even though the other clans disapproved of this, the Alpha raised the human as his own. Later, when the child had grown up, the pack was congregated on a high mount cliff edge. They were ambushed by a white Alpha, which had been penetrated with Darkness. Soon the rest of the white wolf pack had killed the clan. The poison was passed onto the other Alpha, and was driven to madness. The girl had no choice," I pull my dagger from my belt, "but to kill her Alpha."

"So wait a moment." Mia held a finger up. "You were raised by wolves?"

I didn't answer.

"You can kind of tell," she said, "you're very alert and light on your feet."

"Where are you going now?" She asks.

"A place where I can find answers."

"Where?"

"An Oracle." I shrugged. "Being raised by wolves doesn't give you any answers about your past."

"Let us come with you."

"Amynta won't want to." I whispered, "but I can lead you the border, then my raven will tell us the way."

Maya's PoV

Apparently, I didn't have a station.

My job? To defend our ground. But the night was clear - none of the red team had tried to cross the border. I felt a vibration in the ground. Far off shouting and screaming signalled that the teams had clashed.

After a while, the blue-plumed helms has begun to itch. I was pondering whether I should take it off when I heard a stick snap.

It was close. And it was too loud to be a branch falling off a tree. I crept around.

A guy with a red-plumed helmet was sneaking through the trees. He had dirty blonde hair that was swept to the side of his forehead and dark brown eyes that were the colour of chestnuts. He was tall and had tanned skin and looked like a dream.

"Oh my Aphrodite." I muttered. He turned towards me and I threw Astrapí, catching his sleeve onto the truck of a tree. I sauntered over.

"Hi." I say.

"Hiya," he says, his American thick and heavy. He makes no effort to try and free himself. He cocks his head to one side and flashes me a dazzling white smoke. Wait.

Wasn't I supposed to be doing something?

"Oh yeah..."

And I whack him on the head.

I literally had to limp with this guy to the prison. And I wasn't built for this kinda stuff.

"Didn't think you'd make it." He teased, once he had woken up.

"You don't do sword-fighting, do you?" I say, "because you got knocked out cold really quickly and went limp like a... Like a..."

"Like a what?" He smirked, behind the bars.

"A potato." I blurted. My face went red. Trust me to end up like an embarrassing icon.

"Maya!" Another guy shouts. He's wearing a blue sash over his amour.

"How do you know my-"

"Where have you _been_?" He asks.

The ground shook violently. I fell to the floor.

"Where were you? The game's ended. We-"

He doesn't say anymore, because a giant humanoid shape emerging from the woods says something for us.

**FYI, I have changed my writing style! So yeah! Another excuse to review! Yeah! **

**Also, if you like Percabeth, Caleo and Leico I have a new fanfic called My Other Half for one-shots of these pairings... So yeah.**

**Like I said, PM me or leave a review if you have something to say x**

**~Ira**


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